Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Classen, Albrecht

Titel

Irony in Medieval and Early Modern German Literature: Nibelungenlied, Mauritius von Craûn, Johannes von Tepl’s Ackermann: The Encounter of the Menschlich-Allzumenschlich in a Medieval Context

Ist Teil von

• Journal of English and Germanic philology, 2014-04, Vol.113 (2), p.184-205

Ort / Verlag

Urbana: University of Illinois Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Project MUSE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Despite some previous attempts to identify irony in the Middle Ages, the true extent of its impact and significance especially in Middle High German literature has not yet been sufficiently fathomed. The present article examines irony in the Nibelungenlied, in the verse narrative Mauritius von Craun, and in the dialogue poem Ackermann by Johannes von Tepl. In each of them, ironic strategies surface at critical junctures and determine subsequent events, mostly in a surprising fashion, initiating a sudden rupture and high degree of irration. The use of irony serves especially to allow the poets to integrate a perspective toward the interior of their protagonists, revealing significant strategies hidden behind the formal exchanges and actions, and exposing motif structures. In a way, irony in those medieval texts indicates how much premodern literature actually shares with modern literature in the interest of exploring human emotions, conflicts, and profound concerns.